Double Drabble: The Woods and Ruminations
by foreverlarkjay
Summary: Double Drabble #1: "The Woods" and "Ruminations" Two short stories for the price of one! Read and review please!


Story title: Double Drabble: The Woods and Ruminations

Author: foreverlarkjay

Summary: A morning in the woods takes a bloody, deadly turn for the worse.

AND: Katniss reflects on the games and what they gave her.

Chapters: 1

Genre: Horror/Romance)

A/N: Hello my fellow authors! It's foreverlarkjay here, and I have a question. I. Need. A. Beta. NOW! Mjay part 2 is on the horizon, and I'll be putting out more work, so I need someone to re-read and check my fics. PM me, and we'll talk about it! Without further ado, here is Double Drabble: "The Woods" and "Ruminations".

Blah blah insert usual disclaimer here: I don't own THG or any affiliated characters blah. Just read and review the fic.

Ruminations

On a stormy night, curled up by the fireplace, sits a woman with tanned olive skin, shocking gray eyes, and a long black braid. A young child, this time with deep blue orbs instead of her mother's gray, lies in her lap, fast asleep. A blond-haired man sits pretzel style next to the woman, an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Sleep eluded the entire family that night, though for entirely different reasons.

For the parents, the rain brought back memories of that cold night in the arena, gamemaker-made rain pouring down over

their heads. For the child, simply childish fears of ghosts and monsters on the roof.

The woman felt disgusted with her own thoughts. In her brain, a tug-of-war rages on silently. How could she dare to think of the Games with any semblance of gratefulness? Pitting children to kill each other? To become murders as young as twelve? To rip apart entire families? But it did bring her and Peeta together.

No. She shouldn't have those thoughts, that something so barbaric could benefit someone other than the Capitol.

Countless lives, a million too many, had been lost, in the Games and during the Mockingjay Rebellion, the one she started. Now she feels selfish. How could she, Katniss Everdeen, deserve to live when better people like Prim and Rue and Boggs and Pollux and Finnick, with his wife and unborn child, had died?

Seventy three games, twenty-three people had died in each, a total of 1,679 children, and here she was.

But maybe, just maybe, no matter how wrong and immoral it may be, she had something to thank the Capitol for.

The Woods

Slowly, carefully, I reach over and grab my jacket, hanging on the hook. It's almost painful, moving this slow, but I don't want to wake up Prim. I'm supposed to meet Gale in the woods this morning at five, but the sun tells me that I slept in. Great. I step outside and quietly pull in the door after me. A gust of cold air immediately slaps me in the face.

It's fall, and we need the game more than ever now. Checking for Peacekeepers, I run across the narrow dirt path that runs through the Seam, and out to the District fence. There, Gale is impatiently awaiting my arrival. "Come on, Catnip," he mutters. We duck under the fence, first listening for the hum of electricity. As always, it's silent.

There's a strange feeling in the air, and it makes me uneasy, like the nervous churning I feel in my stomach before the Reaping. As we tiptoe quietly through the greenery, I hear a branch crack behind us. Instinctively, we whip our heads around, arrows ready to shoot, but nothing is there. We continue onwards, cautiously, senses on edge because of the strange noise. A bird appears in the trees, and Gale nods, letting me know I could shoot this time. Usually we don't kill such small animals but food is scarce.

I take aim, when I hear another branch crack behind us. I turn slowly and am faced with a familiar person. "What the hell… Mellark?" Gale's shocked expression mirrors mine and we glance at each other. "Katniss…" he slurs drunkenly. Of course. That's the only way a townie would have enough courage to step foot in the woods.

"You little *****!" he yells, launching the half empty beer bottle at me. I duck, and Gale charges foward. Mellark turn s to run, taking cover behind the trees. I grab his arm just in time, violence won't help in this situation. "Gale, don't. You know if a Seam person lays a hand on a Merchant, we'll be arrested, even if it was in self defense."

"Let me teach that little spoiled brat a lesson, or-" he is suddenly staring behind me, frozen.

I turn slowly and Mellark is there, axe in hand. His eyes go dark, almost jet black. "You never really loved me, you were just using me so you could stay alive. You used me, and now you're with HIM! I thought you were better than this, Katniss, but I was wrong." He breaks down in tears, falling onto his knees. I have no idea what he is talking about. Has the constant abuse from his mother made him mad? I witness Peeta Mellark's last moments, as in a split second, he buries the axe in his chest.

(The end!)


End file.
